1875: Confederate Gen. Pickett dies, but does not fade from memory

Sunday

Civil War Gen. George Pickett, the leader of the infamous "Pickett's Charge" at the battle of Gettysburg, died this week (July 30) in 1875. Fittingly, he began and ended his military career as a goat.

Civil War Gen. George Pickett, the leader of the infamous "Pickett's Charge" at the battle of Gettysburg, died this week (July 30) in 1875. Fittingly, he began and ended his military career as a goat.

He began it as a goat because that is the moniker given to all West Point graduates who finish last in their class, as Pickett did in the class of 1846. Class rank at West Point is determined by a combination of test scores and military comportment — basically the number of demerits received — and out of a class of 59, Pickett finished 59th in artillery, 58th in engineering and 52nd infantry tactics, while picking up an impressive 159 demerits.

Yet by July 1863 he had somehow managed to become a general in Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, which — as the world knows — put him in command of one of three divisions charged with attacking the Union lines at Cemetery Ridge on the third day of the battle of Gettysburg. Because he commanded the freshest division, Pickett was ordered to attack the center of the Union lines, which he did on July 3, 1863.

Unfortunately, an earlier Confederate artillery barrage that was supposed to soften up Union defenses was not effective, and when the soldiers who were part of "Pickett's Charge" reached Cemetery Ridge, the result was a bloodbath.

Pickett lost almost his entire division of 15,000 men, including all of his brigade and regimental commanders. The situation was so dire that when Lee, fearing a Union counteroffensive, ordered Pickett to assemble his division for a defensive stand, Pickett supposedly replied, "General Lee, I have no division."

The Battle of Gettysburg was, of course, a devastating loss for the Confederacy, and although Lee managed a successful retreat back to Virginia, his Army of Northern Virginia was never the same.

And neither was Pickett, who never got over the loss of his division at Gettysburg, even blaming Lee for ordering the charge. In fact, Pickett's subsequent disastrous defeats at the Battle of Five Forks and the Battle of Sayles Creek helped seal the Confederacy's fate and resulted in Lee relieving him of his command.

Pickett was the last Confederate general fired, one day before the war ended. A goat once again.

As a postcript, some time after the war's end, Pickett and Lee met for the last time. Along with the famous Confederate raider John Mosby, Pickett visited Lee in Richmond, and Lee treated Pickett with barely concealed contempt.

This caused Pickett to later complain to Mosby, "That old man had my division massacred at Gettysburg."

"Maybe so," Mosby is said to have replied, "But it made you immortal."